“Two things are aesthetically perfect in the world — the clock and the cat.”

“Leave your broom at the door...”

“O Meri Jaan!”

“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have.”

“What everyone agreed was not very nice, was the way Clémence had carried on. Obviously, she wasn't the kind of girl you'd ask again: she'd ended up showing off everything she'd got, and she'd puked all down one of the muslin curtains and completely ruined it. At least the men did go into the street to do it; Lorilleux and Poisson, when they felt queer, managed to dash as far as the pork-butcher's shop. Breeding always tells.”

“Sometimes I just wonder what constitutes a really exciting life. Maybe we're all just lost souls looking for something that simply doesn't exist?”

“In that moment, the machinery of the world lined up. Somewhere a clock struck midnight, and Hugo's future seemed to fall perfectly into place.”